EU seals ‘historic’ pact on Serbia’s lithium deposits

Mr Vucic was also keen to play up the potential economic gains. He insisted that Jadar’s lithium would stay in the country.

Maros Sefcovic said that would mean Serbia would become the first European country with “the whole value chain from lithium down to the electric vehicles built here in Serbia”.

Opposition parties remain unconvinced by the president’s environmental guarantees. They never believed the lithium mine had been scrapped for good. Now they’re demanding transparency over the revived Rio Tinto project.

“There is a complete lack of trust in the government when they say it will be in the interest of citizens,” says the co-leader of the Green-Left Movement, Biljana Djordjevic.

“We fear that Serbia will be sacrificed to provide lithium for electric vehicles that pretty much nobody in Serbia can afford.”

It means that despite the celebrations in Brussels, Berlin and Belgrade, the protests against lithium mining in rural Serbia are likely to return in earnest.